Larry Ellison gets huge pay rise

The richest boss in tech just got a little bit richer, and this time it's not his customers squeaking.

Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison, California's richest man, has been awarded a 38 per cent pay rise, taking his salary to an estimated $72m. The award makes Ellison the second-highest paid CEO of a US public company, coming in $1.7 mill behind Merrill Lynch's John Thain.

Ellison, who co-founded Oracle in 1977 and regularly tops Forbes' ranking of top-paid technology CEOs, reportedly asked a committee of Oracle's board members for the award. His net worth is $25bn.

His income growth outstrips that of his company for the year: Oracle reported a 29 per cent increase in net income and a 25 per cent jump in total revenue for its latest fiscal year, reported in June.

That largesse has reportedly upset some of Oracle's shareholders, who now plan to propose they should have more say on compensation.

Ellison's pay rise comes on the heels of the decision to hike licensing fees, and follows last year's disclosure that Oracle is charging some customers so much they are ripping processors from their servers to avoid paying Oracle more than they have to. ®